Are You My King?
by Pandora Clearly
Summary: Kate seems to be out of Garrett's picture, and he thinks she's taken happiness with her. That is, until he stumbles across what may be both his savior and his destruction. In fact, it may very well be the end of existence as vampires know it. R&R my loves
1. GENESIS

Are You My King?  
By Pandora Clearly

A/N Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first honestly GarrettxOC story on ! Because of that, I know a lot of you already hate me. That's okay. If you have that big of a problem with anyone but Kate being romantically involved with Garrett, just give it a fighting chance. Worst case scenario you can copy and paste this into word and change my OC's name to yours. I do it all the time with Edward/Bella fics.  
And this will seem really strange until some things are explained, but stick with me. This will be great!

CHAPTER ONE  
GENESIS

_Edward, I'm coming! If you can hear me, get ready!_

The instant these thoughts turned down the dirt road to the glass house, Edward picked up on them. They were barely there and hardly audible over the roar of a motorcycle's clogged engine. He heard the rider's anxiety and fear and it almost outplayed a memory.

A memory of fire... of burning. The stench of dying skin long since dead.

His hand, that was around Bella's shoulder, stopped moving, and he gasped sharply. That was all it took to alert his wife that something was wrong.

"Edward? Edward, what's happened?" As she turned her head to Bella tried her best to be quiet so Nessie wouldn't hear that Daddy wasn't happy at the moment.

"Uhm..."

"You're being really weird. When was the last time you gasped? You don't breathe like that, if at all... And you definitely don't say 'uhm'."

"Nothing is wrong, Bella." He tightened his grip around her shoulder and relaxed as he sugar coated his words. "I was... surprised. That's all. We're about to have a visitor."

"Oh. Jacob or Charlie?" she asked, as they were the only outsiders who had regular occasion to visit.

"Neither. It's Garrett."

"Garrett?!" Bella cried, sitting up again and facing Edward completely this time. "I thought he was in Alaska, part of the Denali coven now!"

"He was," Edward said. _Emphasis on the 'was'_, he thought but didn't actually say.

"Are the others coming? Kate and Tanya and them?"

Edward paused. Briefly enough not for Bella to notice in her preoccupation, but a pause nonetheless. There was no way he was going to say more than he had to, especially when the information wasn't exactly his to give. He would choose his words carefully when he spoke, but his daughter found speech first.

"Gary?" Nessie asked her mother.

"Yes," she smiled at Nessie's nickname for the wanderer. "Yes, Gary is on his way. He's by himself, apparently."

Nessie put her hand on Bella's neck and an image of Kate clicked in her mind. Kate, with her straight, corn silk blonde hair and golden eyes that were characteristic of an animal-only diet.

"Sorry, Nessie, but no. Maybe next time. Why don't you go get your pajamas on, honey."

"Do I really have to, Mom?"

"Of course. You can stay up enough to talk to Gary for a little, but then you're going to be tired."

"It sounds like two minutes, give or take," Edward obliged when Nessie asked how much time until Gary arrived.

As soon as he was sure Nessie was upstairs raiding her dresser, heavily stocked by Alice, he stood and stared out the window. Bella came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"So he's alone?" she asked.

"It's complicated. He's thinking of a person on the bike with him, but I can't see who and I can't hear that person's mind. It's like there's - - oh no."

"'Oh, no'? Edward, something is wrong, now tell me what."

"Go get Carlisle," he said as he headed for the door of the glass house.

"What?"

"Get Carlisle! I don't know who it is, but he's brought someone and she needs help."

"Is it Kate?"

"I don't know, Bella! Whoever it is, I can't hear their thoughts and Garrett won't think about... It doesn't look good, so get Carlisle!"

Bella took off to Carlisle's room and Edward headed down the porch steps into the night. He saw the headlights of the motorcycle breaking through some of the green about a mile away. Garrett would be here in just a few moments, but that was enough time to get Carlisle alerted. He already heard his father's thoughts as Bella practically yelled that there must be some sort of emergency. Esme worried instantaneously and she followed her husband and daughter-in-law downstairs. Alice and Jasper were right behind them, taking the stairs two at a time.

As the motorcycle cut through onto the long paved drive up to the glass house, Edward knew he would have lost any meal if he'd had that human weakness of vomiting. It was clear why he couldn't hear another mind. For all appearances, Garrett was riding toward him with a dead girl strapped to his body in front of him. She was bleeding, even leaving the faintest trail on the ground behind the motorcycle's wheels. Even the pouring rain couldn't was away the blood and the stench of someone who'd been dying for a while now. Edward could sense Bella at his side and then she had her arm around his. Her hand flew to her mouth when she took in what her husband was seeing.

"Is that Kate?" she asked

"Nessie can't see this," Edward said, avoiding the question as he tried not to pair Kate with Garrett's thoughts:

_Edward, she's dying! If you can hear me, she's dying! Dying, help me, help her, she's dying!_

"I'll see to her," said Rosalie, who had suddenly appeared on the porch with Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett.

Bella muttered a thanks and turned her gaze on Alice. "Did you see this?" she demanded.

"No, no, I swear! I was a little - -" she glanced at Jasper, "- - A little busy."

"Alice," Carlisle said, taking charge, "find out what I need for this and help Esme set up the downstairs study as fast and as you can. Jasper, you'll put away the bike and stay away from the girl, but keep Garrett calm. Emmett, prepare a room for Garret, and keep him and Jasper away . Edward, you carry the girl into the study. You're my assistant tonight."

As he finished speaking Garrett's foot was on the brake and his motorcycle was slowing. Edward was already running out to meet him and began untying the ropes that tied the body to Garrett before the vehicle even stopped.

"Edward, she's dead," he moaned. "I couldn't save her!"

"She's not dead, there's a pulse. Be calm – we're going to help."

He pulled the nearly lifeless body off the seat, some ropes still tied to her, and carried her up the steps and to the room Carlisle had designated. Overwhelming human smells assailed his nose so he stopped breathing again. As he laid her down on the table, Bella set to cleaning the blood from the body with a rag. Most of the blood was dead and dried, though she had some wounds that were still open. Edward was grateful Bella could control her thirst, as she was still a relative newborn. Even Jasper still had some problems with the smell of blood, but Bella's self-control was a blessing.

But Edward had to turn away. The mangled, broken body was too great of a reminder of what Bella had almost been years ago, at the hands of the other American nomads and almost every year since thanks to the Volturi and Victoria. He heard Carlisle ordering the others as he did chest compressions, and they washed and medicated and cut and cauterized. His perfect ears heard, but his mind did not register. All he heard was Garrett sobbing on the porch. All he remembered was how he had sobbed when he thought Bella had died.

Right then his immortal heart would have stopped again if it had ever had the privilege to start. He'd never heard of such a thing happening, but he understood long before the others would. Much longer before... He saw just how unbelievable and impossible of a situation Garrett had unknowingly put himself and the Cullens into. Edward found himself closing the door to the study without a word. As if shutting a door could have erased what just happened, and taken him back five minutes to before Garrett, before Garrett's memories of Kate and the burning. Before there was any chance his family would suffer along with Garrett, if that was the course this event would take. Which it most likely would.

Garrett's pleading with some nonexistent supreme being, impossible not to hear, echoed to the starless sky as Emmett tried to lead him inside:

"Not her, please... Anyone but her!"

A/N Yes. Very strange, I'm fully aware, since I'm the one writing it. But trust me, this will totally rock. Let this really get rolling and you'll love it all as much as I do. Chapter two is almost complete so I'm shooting to post it on the 13th or 14th. Please review, because writers do not live on chapter hits alone - - - but remember: I don't need you bum-snogging. Nor do I need you flaming. Spank you very much. 3 Pandora out.


	2. SHIVER

Are You My King?  
Pandora Clearly

CHAPTER TWO  
SHIVER

A/N I will admit/advertise this whole-heartedly: I WANT A BETA. This story is going to be slightly rough because it's really out there. If I decide I want YOU to be my beta (e-mail me or message me or something), realize that I may not use you every chapter. If I feel like I didn't mess anything up, you'll just read it at the same time everyone else does. Odds are against me feeling perfect, though. My main request is that if you want to beta for me, you have an open mind. Cuz it's a strange story...

If Edward could, he would vomit.

The smells that came with Garrett were disgusting, though the odors actually came from the girl he brought. It wasn't normal human BO like what flitted around the schools, nor was it the smell that she'd gone through a smelly area. It wasn't until the girl had been in the house for a few minutes that the stench became noticeable. It was like... like nothing he'd smelled before, and in the worst way possible. He didn't know what to make of it. He couldn't hear thoughts from her as he helped Carlisle stitch the many holes, no larger than an inch each, in her body. It was like quarters had been fired at her like bullets, but there was no sign of what could have pierced her skin that way.

What was more curious, and incredibly terrifying, was that she wouldn't stop bleeding. It wasn't that she was gushing blood all over, but it was more like a perpetual paper-cut. Alice and Esme were keeping fresh gauze on the broken body. Jasper had come downstairs and was calming Alice – the fact that she could see no future about this girl was frustrating her, almost to the point of storming out of the room.

"I can't leave," she said, wishing she could when Carlisle suggested she go relax. "I can still help out here."

"She smells disgusting," Jasper wrinkled his nose.

"Not tempting?" Carlisle asked. Jasper still acted like a newborn sometimes.

"Not in the slightest. She makes me want to throw up."

"My sentiments exactly," Edward muttered.

"Well," Carlisle said, trying to change the mood a little, "That's about all we can do. We've got her cleaned up, there's a pulse, and the breathing tube has got her respiratory system functioning."

"Time to tell Garrett?" Alice asked, clearly miffed at having to ask.

"When there's nothing more to do for a patient, it's time to tell the family."

"Garrett's not her family. She's not one of us, and he's a nomad."

"He brought her in. Of course it's time to tell him. You're all welcome to come along, but I need Jasper and Edward. You two should work together to make him calm if he doesn't like what I have to say."

Esme volunteered to stay with the girl and Alice took the opportunity to go somewhere else. Only Renesmee ever gave her a problem with seeing the future, and the fact she couldn't see the girl meant that she wasn't human, and certainly wasn't a vampire. Bella accompanied the boys to where Emmett had brought Garrett to stay. It was one of the smaller rooms, designed as a clean and modern guest room.

When they entered, Garrett was standing at the glass wall, watching the forest life; seeing, but not comprehending. He heard them enter but never turned around. He was wet, freshly out of the shower Emmett had forced him to take, citing his stink. There was a towel around his shoulders and stray beads of water ran down his face and over his bare chest. Emmett had lent him a pair of gray sweatpants, long-legged, that somewhat puddled on his feet and the floor.

"How is she?" he asked, drying some water from his long, sandy hair with the towel. It seemed meaningless, like an action for the sake of moving rather than necessity.

"It's hard to say," Carlisle said gently. "We don't know much about her. Maybe you can help."

"I can't. I don't really know her, either."

Jasper's brow furrowed. Why had Garrett gone through all the trouble of tying an unconscious, dying girl to himself as he drove a motorcycle for who knew how long?

Edward knew. Garrett was an open book, and his story definitely wasn't one meant for retelling. At least, it wasn't his story to tell. It made no sense, and Edward tried to keep a little distance between them. But it was true: Garrett didn't know the girl, which made the entire situation the more nonsensical.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

Carlisle sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "From a human standpoint, I do. She's sustained major trauma – broken bones, many holes that seem most like stab wounds or bullet holes, and she can't breathe on her own. But she's not human. Alice can't see her, and her skin is far too hot for an ordinary girl. I can't directly touch her. Edward can't hear her because her brain seems to be nonfunctional."

Edward tried to listen one more time, but heard nothing. He shook his head slowly, affirming that he really couldn't hear her.

"Who is she?" Jasper asked. "Why did you bring her here?"

"No one. I don't know. I... I don't want to talk about that. Can we just focus on fixing her, please?"

"It would help us greatly if you could tell us - -"

"I said I don't want to talk - -"

"What's that smell...?" Alice interrupted, barely whispering.

"It came with Garrett," Bella said, brushing it off.

"No, not that," Alice said, holding up a hand to silence them. "Something else."

The seven vampires stood quiet as Alice quickly dipped into the future. It lasted barely a few seconds before her eyes snapped into focus again and she gasped.

"Something's... Something's burning!" Bella exclaimed.

"Esme," Alice said in a ragged breath at the same time Garrett said, "Sara!"

Carlisle was out the door first, followed immediately by Garrett. Edward stewed for a moment over the name Sara, as did Emmett, but they were soon out the door with Bella on their heels. Alice and Jasper stayed behind as Alice tried to see more. Her eyes were wide open but blank as Jasper took her hands and waited. When she came back, she seemed exhausted and annoyed again. He held her emotions at more of a gentle concern than the panic she'd otherwise display.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"Not much. Just that Esme's in trouble now, but she's going to be fine. But it's like... It's like everything else is blurry. If I try to see Esme, she's fine, but she's all I see. If I try to see the girl... It's awful. I feel suffocated, like I couldn't breathe if I needed to."

"Any idea what she is?"

Alice thought for a moment before she frowned in response. "She's bad news."

--

"Sara!" Garrett yelled when he saw the flames billowing up from the table in the center of the makeshift operating room. The shape of her body writhed, her back arched, and an eerie sound echoed from her throat. She was screaming at the same time she was choking on the breathing tube. Before the others could stop him he was reaching through the fire in effort to remove the tube. His skin burned unbearably and he drew away, holding his arm to his chest. He didn't actually burn – he didn't even turn color – but it felt like the fire was dancing on him.

Carlisle saw Esme on the floor by a desk pushed to the corner. He rushed to her side and asked if she was okay. Luckily she had been able to run away from the fire before it had the chance to ignite the venom in her body. Her eyes were wide with fear.

All of them were afraid. They didn't know what this thing was that lay burning in their house. Should the flames get out of control, their home could be destroyed. The fire could not be put out – Emmett's attempts with an extinguisher were useless as the heat simply ate up the cold.

Garrett fell to his knees and yelled her name again. There was absolutely nothing he could do. She was burning, on fire. Soon she'd be ash...

And then she'd be gone.

No sooner had he thought of her body as a pile of dust had the flames started to recede. In five minutes, the fire was gone, leaving nothing but a gray ash behind. It seemed to sparkle, or at least Bella thought so. Or maybe it was a glow. Emmett kept Rosalie outside, who had appeared with Nessie in hand. Alice was distraught, and Jasper held her tightly to himself. Carlisle, assured that his wife was perfectly fine, pulled her to her feet and stared at the remains of the girl.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"I-I-I don't know," Esme stammered as she ran a hand through her dark hair. "I was going to check her pulse again and change the gauze and she just... She just caught fire, just like that. And she was screaming and crying and she didn't look quite human anymore and I was scared and I- -"

Carlisle pulled her close and stroked her head, muttering that it was okay. Esme was a gentle woman, and it tore her apart that she had just witnessed a young girl die like that. It confused her. When she saw Garrett get up and move to the table, she was at his side in less than a second.

"Don't," she pleaded. "Don't touch her. She's still going to be hot."

"I can't just... I can't..."

"Garrett. There's nothing you _can_ do. Whoever she is, she's gone."

"Hopefully," muttered Alice.

Esme shot her a warning glance before offering, "We can have a funeral if you want."

He said nothing as he reached out and barely touched some ashes on the edge of the table. It was strange – for how hot that fire felt, there were no scorch marks anywhere. The ashes were cold to the touch. Not colder than his own skin, of course, but it was like the fire had burned ages ago rather than mere moments.

"She's really gone now," he said, barely whispering. "I may as well be gone, too."

A/N So yeah. That's chapter two. Believe me, it's a billion times better than the other attempts at Ch2 I've written. I haven't got much to say... I'm tired... Well, R&R (because everyone says that) so I feel like writing more.


	3. RECONSTRUCTED

Are You My King?  
Pandora Clearly

CHAPTER THREE  
RECONSTRUCTED

A/N Still need/want a beta. And yipee, the story is plotted tentatively from the beginning to end, which I've never done and that will hopefully make this go faster. This has been my Writer's Block chapter (it happens every three to five chapters for me, usually, so that sucks) and I'm ecstatic to know I've got the plot all done out. This chapter is my pride and joy, because (for me) it's really intense and crazy and mind-blowingly awesome. It's like when stories open with the climax, then go back to the beginning, but this IS the beginning! So it's great!! I'm so happy!

Sincerest and most heartfelt thanks to Smiling Puppet, Saephona, and Satta! You three are showing such faith in me and my story, because it's so 'underdeveloped' right now, and it really means the world to have your reviews!

And now, on with the show!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

He was running, his heart pounding out of his skin. Rain was falling fast and hard against his mud-covered body. Trees flashed by him in the dark, cold, summer night. Fear overtook him and he could not look back. He felt that someone was behind him, had to be following him...

But who?

He couldn't remember. Not his name, where he was from, and especially not where he was going. Lightning flashed and he cried out with the thunder.

There was a house. A large house with whole walls made of glass. In a smaller window on the first level glowed bright and warm.

Warm!

He took off running, not for fear of what could be behind, but for anticipation of what could be ahead. A strange feeling in his gut propelled him forward.

Then he was inside, bathed in a warm glow, sitting in the same chair for the third day in a row. Well, third night straight. He turned around and saw Alice, who was blinking in confusion. His expression mirrored hers.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing... I just thought... Well, I thought I heard you snoring."

"This is not possible."

"I know. I guess I was imagining things. Listen, you really don't look so good. Carlisle's got some hospital blood in the fridge. You can warm it up if you want. Just eat, okay? We're all really worried about you."

He nodded and left to the kitchen. In the fridge he pushed aside the food kept for Jacob and Charlie and gravved a bag of O positive. As he ripped it open he paid no mind to the cold - his trembling hands could hardly feel it. As he pressed it to his lips and drank heavily thunder rolled. Garrett jumped and the remaining blood spilled all over his white t-shirt.

The fridge was fully stocked so he drank two more O positives. He already felt better. In the glass kitchen wall he saw his reflected eyes turn more copper and placated and the purple bruising under them faded.

Then the doorbell rang.

There was no reason for the urge he felt to open the door. It could only be Charlie or Jacob, but it was strange that either of them should be calling so deep into the night.

In a split second he was turning the gleaming handle.

"Don't open the door!" screamed Alice from the top of the stairs.

Then everything went black.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Garrett woke frantic and confused. His eyes swept the room and he remembered where he was. Then he remembered why. It had been three days since Sara's ashes had been burried deep in the trees surrounding the Cullen's home, near a small river.

Alice's face was covered in worry and concern from her perch on a chair by a lamp. He had to ask her what was wrong.

"Nothing," Alice sighed. "I just thought..." Garrett's eyes widened in anticipation. "Well, I thought I heard you snoring."

"This is not possible!" Garrett breathed. It had to be coincidence that he'd woken in the same manner he'd dreamt.

Alice suggested he go eat from Carlisle's stolen hospital supply, then stood and left to go upstears to Jasper. For those three days, while Garrett sat in grief and silence, she sat with him. It saddened her that she could not mourn the girl's death - because that girl absolutely terrified and angered Alice - so she mourned Garrett's loss more than what was lost. Now she wanted some more uplifting atmospher since Garrett seemed to have broken past his melancholy enough to move.

"We're all really worried about you, Garrett."

He practically flew to the kitchen and flung the door to the refigerator open. The taste of the cold human blood was so foreign - disgusting, even - but he hadn't realized just how hungry he really was. Halfway through his first blood bag the thunder rolled and he spilled his meal down his shirt. Part of him was ready for it. Then he thought of the door and how in his dream he'd felt that unignorable pull to answer the bell. Wouldn't he feel the pull by now, if someone really were approaching? The bell should sound any moment now...

But it didn't.

So Garrett devoured another bag of O positive. This time he rubbed it between his strong hands, hoping friction might warm it up a bit. Ultimately, he didn't care. Just one more bag and the bell would ring. One more bag meant one more gulp closer to whoever was at the door.

Did he really want to know who he would see behind it? Could it be anything but something of an evil nature that had pulled at his heart so intensely?

_Not much else is more evil in nature than me, creatures like me,_ Garrett thought as he ripped open his third bag. Bathed in the dim glow of the fridge, he was as white and cold as the moon, and the blood put a small sparkle back in his skin. He had eatten nothing in three days and even though it was cold, it really hit the spot. A little aged, but nourishing nonetheless. The kitchen window reflected his strong face and eyes, somehow not as haggard as before. His purple bruises under his eyes seemed to melt away.

_DING DONG DING DONG!_

He took off in a sprint and was at the front door in moments. One hand wrapped around the handle as Alice's voice from upstairs screamed.

"Don't open the door!"

Her words didn't register. All that mattered was the terrifying sight his eyes beheld when he ignored Alice.

Against the backdrop of night and her accents of rain, lightning, and thunder stood both a nightmare and the most celestial mercy. She was undressed, though she was holding one of the sweatshirts left out for Jacob over herself. Her feet and legs were muddy and her skin a golden pink - Garrett could see that even in the dark. There were no holes in her body, no wounds and no scars. She wasn't thin, nor was she overweight, but she was healthy, like one who fed herself regularly without gorging. He thought her more beautiful than ... Well, he thought her beautiful. Creamy brown hair clung to her body all the way down to her hips, glued by the rain, and a few strands hung over her blessed blue eyes. So big and round and full of life. Frightened for a split second, but full of life nonetheless.

Her fear vanished. She knew this was a much safer place.

Said fear - or was it shock? - pierced Garrett. He had seen her body burn and turn to ash three days ago, buried those ashes over a mile away, and sobbed over her grave. He'd mourned her death, wished to bring her back, and now there were two options. One, he was losing his mind and all this was just a trick of his imagination. The second was that some God, some higher and powerful being, had taken mercy on him and let her come back.

Garrett could hardly believe it. Surely, since he had sold his very soul, no leniency would be his. The first option was far more likely. If he just thought something too sudden she would disappear, but he had to rule out the faint possibility that she really was there.

Slowly, so as not to startle her, he raised his left hand to her face, for his right clutched desperately to the door as if to assure himself that this was still a reality. For a moment he hovered in the air, inches from her cheek, afraid that she was a dream or some ghost come to haunt him for failing to save her. Reason told him that even if she vanished, just this sight of her would be enough, real or not. He summoned his courage and gently stroked her cheek with his fingertips, savoring the feel of her very present skin, soft and hot under his own. She seemed a little nervous at first, but turned her face into his palm.

"S-S-Sara..." he stuttered. "This is... This is real."

She put a free hand over his own and held him there, until he fell backward to the wood floor with a soft thud. Unconcious. Her large eyes widened, but she didn't move. She was confused, with no clue as to what action to take. After all, she didn't even know who he was.

Alice came flying down the stairs and took one look at Garrett's body on the floor before assuming a predatory crouch and growling. Sara fidgeted with the sweatshirt she covered herself with and her body trembled. She didn't like this wild, small thing that snarled at her, and she was afraid. Alice was furious, and Jasper couldn't stop those feelings fast enough.

"You're supposed to be dead," Alice said through clenched teeth, baring her fangs, "And I'm going to make sure you stay that way!"

As she lept through the air full speed at Sara, the tall, terrified brunette only had time to cry out one word:

"Sar!"

A/N I know. I'm so amazing (and humble!). I made my sister read this and she's totally freaking out. I'm particularly proud. I feel I got all the intensity and rush I was looking for into this. I just got my braces tightened today, it's almost one in the morning, and I'm on two doses of hydrocodone. I think this chapter freaking rocks. Plus side to this cliffhanger is that it means after three chapters of constant questions and no answers, chapter four will clue you in to a few things (mind you, only a few. Gotta save some tidbits for the future to keep the story rolling). Lotsa little hints about who/what she is. E-cookies to the first person who figures it out. Not that I'll ever tell you if you're right or wrong, because THAT, my dear children, would be spoiling.

And thanks again, reviewers, particularly Setta, whose reviews I just read tonight and they spurred me to finish and post this NOW!! 3333 EVERY REVIEW COUNTS!!

So read and review because it makes yours truly quite ecstatic. Stay tuned, lovelies! Pandora out!


	4. BREATHING

Are You My King?  
Pandora Clearly

**CHAPTER FOUR  
BREATHING**

_A/N My laptop committed suicide that no EMS team could fix. I JUST got computer access. You can all thank my friend, twilight fanpire me, for linking me to her Twific, which spurred me to continue mine. You rock, my friend._

_Okay, I got an e-mail from a different 'friend' yelling at me for the brief nudity in the previous chapter. Seriously, I opened the e-mail and it was like an e-Howler; I could hear her fury. She said I was going evil and my standards were slipping and yadee yadda yadda. What anyone who feels the same needs to understand is it wasn't meant to be sexual or evil or whatever. Because of what she is it would've been un-natural for her to show up fully clothed much the same way a baby doesn't pop out of the womb in a onesie and booties. So relax. It was artistic and informationally correct. At least she was COVERED, my word!_

_And now for the thanking bit._

_And I'm shutting up now. Enjoy Chapter Four!_

_ Obviously, thanks to twilight fanpire me, cuz you pushed me to keep going. I'm proud of ya and I hope you love this!_

_And Satta, thank you so much! And you're half right. One of your assumptions is correct, the other... not so much. But it's not a big deal. I'm glad someone actually posted a guess. You get a pile of e-Cookies the size of Candy Mountain! Seriously, it's real. There is a real Candy Mountain in Washington and I can see it out the window by my computer. Lemme tell you, Satta, it's a REALLY BIG MOUNTAIN._

_------------------------------------------------_

When Garrett woke up it took him a few short moments to remember where he was. The room was small in comparison with the rest of the Cullen's guest rooms, with no glass wall and only a half-bathroom. It still managed to fit a king-size bed, a tall black dresser, and a bookshelf heavily loaded with all the classics as well as many recent Best-Sellers. It wouldn't have been hard to find a book from any decade extending centuries back. The walls were painted a brown, earthy tone and the atmosphere of the room echoed nature. It was right up Garrett's alley, and he felt at peace in the dark green sheets on the bed.

He felt at peace, that is, until he remembered Sara.

How was she real? As he rubbed his hands on his head, still laying down, he realized his skin felt a little warmer than usual. Usual meaning cold as death for the 235 years since blood stopped flowing through his veins. He sat up slowly and blinked in the dim light streaming through the one window. Had she used some power to force him to sleep? Until he met Sara, his existence had been the same for two centuries. Every day he went someplace else, never liking to stay in the same place for longer than a day or two. Since Sara, it was his life rather than location that changed with the cycle of a day. She'd mended his broken heart before he even knew what to call her. She'd given him a reason to hope and believe in something different, something happier and worthwhile. Everything about Sara, whatever everything was, equaled life. As long as her heart was beating, it seemed his soul had wings.

But her heart had stopped, even ceased to exist. How had she come, breathing, smiling, touchable, back to him?

A knock at the door stole his attention.

"Who is it?" he asked habitually. He could hear from the light footsteps and gentleness of her hand against the wood that it was Esme.

"Esme," she said with patience. "May I come in?"

"Of course," he said, running a hand through his hair. The leather band that kept it back was on the dresser with a change of clothes, so for now it fell to his shoulders with a slight wave.

Esme opened the door and smiled. She pulled the window's curtains closed a little tighter and straightened other small things in the already pristine room. When she ran out of things to do, Garrett raised his eyebrows at her and asked if there was something he was needed for.

"Most of the others are downstairs," she said. "They've been talking and would very much like you to come down now. Edward heard you thinking, so he knew you were awake."

"What've they been talking about?" Garrett asked as he slid with all the grace of a hunter from the bed. Esme turned around as he changed out of pajamas he had no recollection of putting on, and into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved white t-shirt on the dresser. "Am I in trouble?"

"Trouble?" she repeated. "No. They'd like to get your side of things, hear about Sarah."

Esme said her name like Say-ruh. Garrett winced a little at the unfamiliarity of it as he tugged the shirt over his head.

"It's Sah-ruh," he corrected. "At least, that's what I call her. I really have no idea what her name is."

A lightbulb went off in Esme's head. "So that's why you call her that!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's been saying 'sar' ever since she got here. Even in her sleep, she mutters it once in a while. I couldn't get her to say anything else. It's like she's asking for something when she says it."

Garrett grabbed the leather tie and gestured for Esme to lead the way to the others as his pulled his hair back. He chose to forgo the shoes left out, preferring to be barefoot for now. He could feel every grain of the immaculate hardwood floors as he went downstairs. In the living room, Rosalie showed Nessie a simplified Fur Elise. Nessie one-upped her with the original version, struggling only when her child-sized hands couldn't span a full octave when needed. Bella stood protectively by while Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle sat on the couches and chairs talking intensely. Alice was perched grumpily at a window seat. Garrett hardly saw her move, she came to him so fast.

"It's been proposed," she began quietly, not daring to even look at him, "that I apologize for my behavior. So I'm sorry if my actions offended you... and I'm sorry for not giving that girl a fair chance." Alice shot a glance at Carlisle and only when he gave a little nod did she look at Garrett.

"Apology accepted, Alice. Thank you," he nodded. He would have shook her hand but the moment he finished speaking she darted back to her window.

"Have a seat, Garrett," Carlisle gestured to an empty love seat in the circle of Cullen men. "How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, a little warm. Tired, too."

Edward nodded wisely and said, "I can assume we'd all be tired after taking a two-day sleep for the first time in two centuries."

"Two days?" he asked, incredulous.

"Two days," Jasper confirmed. "Esme nearly went out of her mind with worry. Since you have no heartbeat we didn't know if you were dead. Your temperature rose ten degrees, so we were going to wait until you went back to zero before- -"

"Jasper," Carlisle silenced him.

"Sorry."

"What Jasper means is," Carlisle covered, "that we're just glad you're alright."

"Esme tells me you needed to see me."

"Right to the point, then? Very well. We've had a lot of time to discuss this and to try to communicate with Sara. She says next to nothing but I am convinced that will be temporary. What knowledge we have gained has exponentially increased our questions and concerns. Do you find yourself stable enough to discuss all that has happened regarding this situation?"

Garrett closed his eyes. He felt reminded of a point during the war when the enemy had captured him, asked him question after question about every minute thing he could conceivably know. At least this line of questioning didn't involve manacles and knife point.

"I'm fine," he replied. "What do you need to know?"

"Tell us who she is," Emmett demanded. Carlisle glanced at him with a look that basically said, 'Chill out'.

"I don't know."

"Then why is she so important to you?" Edward asked.

"I don't know."

"How did you meet her?"

"Technically speaking, we haven't truly met. One or the other of us has been unconscious while together."

"You found her then?" Carlisle prompted.

"Yes. A half hour off the ferry from Victoria. I felt the need to pull off road. When I did, I hiked about a mile. She was dead when I found her. At least, I thought so."

"And then?"

"Then I was going to bury her. Just a little. I planned to call the police, anonymously. I didn't want to leave someone exposed like that in the poring rain. I didn't want the animals to ruin her."

"Why didn't you bury her?"

"The instant she took a breath, I knew it. It was like she breathed a little of me in each time. I don't know how she started breathing again, but she did. When that happened, it wasn't long before she started bleeding. I couldn't make it stop, no matter what I did. Her blood almost burned me. I couldn't take her to the hospital - they'd want my name and they'd never release her to me. You were my only choice. I had to tie her to me to keep her on my motorcycle. I drove fast and hard. She said 'sar' a lot, as he came in and out of consciousness. As I got close I called out to Edward and... Well, you know the rest."

Carlisle and Edward nodded, filling in some of the puzzle in their minds. Emmett remained tense and stone-faced.

"Alice says you slept before Sara came back," Jasper ventured. "Is that true?"

"I guess," Garrett said. "I don't think it was really sleep. It was like... like I'd stepped outside of myself and that time. I watched myself go to the kitchen and eat. I listened to the doorbell and saw myself answer it. Then I woke up and everything I'd seen happened."

Carlisle almost fell out of his seat. "You were in a precognitive state?"

"Impossible," declared Jasper.

"Eleazar would have said something, surely. If he'd sensed that ability in you, we'd know. You'd know!"

"It's never happened before," Garrett sighed. A lot of new things had been happening since he left Alaska. Would things ever go back to normal?

After some time of silence, aside from Nessie showing Rosalie a more complicated twist on the left hand of Fur Elise, Emmett spoke.

"None of this tells us anything except that she's a freak."

"Ahem," Esme said from the doorway. She had disappeared upstairs for sometime and just came down as Emmett called Sara a freak. "Garrett, you said you'd never officially met her?"

Garrett nodded sadly and fingered a necklace he wore made of various teeth.

"Alice?" she asked Jasper. When he nodded and gave a thumbs up, signaling that she was calm, Esme continued. "In that case, Garrett, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Sara."

Her friend, Garrett though as Esme stepped away from the door frame. At least one of the Cullens had the patience and forgiving to accept Sara to that degree. It didn't surprise him that that one should be Esme. He'd have to thank Esme later. Definitely later. As Sara peeked around the corner all other thoughts disappeared from his mind.

Her big bright eyes saw Carlisle and Edward first as they were in front. They darted from face to face, smiling sheepishly and nervously as they sat still. Garrett froze for a moment and then melted under the warmth of her smile has those eyes found him. She looked even more beautiful than last time. She wore a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, the only things in the house that fit her since she wasn't a size six or smaller, and yet she was lovelier to him than any woman with any amount of finery or jewels or expensive clothes. She, too, wore no shoes, and her hair was pulled into a braid at the base of her skull. Jasper's nose wrinkled at the smell of her. Garrett's found her scent intoxicating. She smelled like the cinnamon rolls his mother used to make or the Big Red chewing gum he'd loved in the nineties. Her blood had that same hot, spicy aroma. He practically salivated, she smelled so wonderful.

His first instinct as he stood was not to taste her.

Sara watched him intently and twisted her fingers together.

He stepped again and again until she was close enough to wrap his arms around.

She looked down and swallowed nervously.

Garrett carefully lifted his hand to her face, afraid that touching her might once more send him to sleep. When his fingertips brushed her face and he didn't pass out, he proceeded to tilt her gaze up to meet his.

"Do you know me?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

She only nodded for a moment before breathing, "Sar."

"No. No, my name is Garrett."

"Sar Garrett," she amended.

"Close enough," he smiled.

As she smiled back, she suddenly threw her arms around him and pulled him close. Sara had to stand on her tiptoes, even though she was nearly six feet tall herself. She clung to him, willing herself to keep him right there with her. He circled one arm around her waist and braided his other fingers around a loose strand of hair. Garrett breathed her in, enchanted by both her smell and the purity and simplicity of her. Another thing he noticed was that she didn't feel so small that she would fall through his embrace. She was there, and he knew she wasn't going anywhere. He would be content to spend the rest of his life just that way.

As anyone who has survived puberty can attest to, life doesn't plan her agenda to match up with anyone else's.

_A/N Okay. I spent two hours typing that and I am EXHAUSTED!! Sleepytime! I hope y'all enjoyed it and stay tuned. It just gets better and better. R&R, chickadies! Pandora out!_


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